Call on hold service is old and well known. Typically, when a party wishes to place another party on hold, the party placing the call on hold presses the hold button on his telephone. His telephone, or the associated PABX or central office switch, then maintains the connection to the other party while allowing the party who placed the call on hold to hang up. Such call on hold services also typically provide a music or announcement on hold feature, which causes music or voice to be played over the line to the party placed on hold. Such call on hold services are useful to the party who places the call on hold, but are often a cause of discontent to the party who has been placed on hold, even if he is provided with music to listen to while on hold. If the call has been received on a speaker phone, the party placed on hold can do things other than merely wait on the telephone for the other party to return. In this case the party placed on hold can hang up the telephone and listen for the return of the other party via the speaker. However, this arrangement still requires the party placed on hold to remain attentive to the speaker phone to determine when the other party returns.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to allow a party placed on hold to dispose of the call until the other party returns, and then be notified of such return, e.g., by a ringing telephone, so the party placed on hold can then request reconnection to the other party.